Free and Low Cost Family Law Resources

Not everyone can afford to hire an attorney in the traditional way to help them navigate a family law matter. Fortunately, there are a lot of resources that are available to people here in Austin and Central Texas.

Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid is a nonprofit organization that has been providing free legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients since 1970. You can call the Austin office at 512-374-2700. They are available from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday through Friday forgeneral family law and other civil legal services.

They also sponsor drop-in Legal Clinics in Austin that you attend. (You have to show up in person at the clinics – you can’t call in for them.) Here are the schedules for the clinics in Austin:

If you’re planning on attending one of the clinics, make sure you get there on time. You can sign in between 6 – 7 PM, but they don’t accept sign in’s after 7 PM. If you sign in between 6 – 7 PM, they will see you that evening. Also, they do have limited child care available at the clinics, but you are encouraged not to bring your children unless it’s absolutely necessary.

LegalLine

The Lawyer Referral Service of Central Texas and the Austin Young Lawyers Association sponsors LegalLine, which is a free hotline that answers legal questions over the telephone. You can call 512-472-8303 from 5:30 – 7:30 PM on the first Tuesday of every month. When you call in, you’ll be speaking to volunteer attorneys that can answer questions and give brief legal advice.

The People’s Law Schoolfeatures basic classes in many types of law. Local lawyers volunteer their time to provide legal information ontopics such as family law and divorce that might be important to the general public. It’s a community service organized by the Austin Bar Association, UT LawSchool, the Lawyer Referral Service, and KEYE. The classes are scheduled at different times, so follow the link above to find upcoming dates and times.